Aptos Labs has announced integrating Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service into the layer 1 blockchain led by ex-Meta employees. The company said that the integration of tech goliath’s AI marks a “crucial turning point,” in the Web3 space.
The multi-year partnership forged with Microsoft is expected to ramp up accessibility for people to explore Web3 and for creators to build.
The two companies will also explore AI and DeFi innovations such as asset tokenization, payments, and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) in a bid to advance Web3 adoption from financial enterprises. According to the official blog post, Aptos Labs will host validator nodes, or servers, that help secure a blockchain and process transactions on Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure.
Meanwhile, Github, which is another platform owned by the tech company, will also integrate Aptos’s programming language, Move, into Copilot, which happens to be an AI model that auto-completes code for developers. As part of the deal, Aptos Labs will receive the exposure of large financial institutions via Microsoft that are inclined towards building blockchain-powered applications on top of Azure.
“There is no denying that the foundation of tomorrow’s internet has been laid down today by Aptos. This integration of Microsoft’s leading AI technology is a significant step towards fundamentally changing how society uses the internet.”
Additionally, Aptos also plans on employing Microsoft’s AI capabilities to introduce Aptos Assistant, which is designed to serve as a digital assistant to address inquiries about the blockchain.
The global tech company has doubled down its focus on artificial intelligence this year after integrating ChatGPT on its search engine, Bing, via a chatbot named Sydney. In fact, Microsoft invested a whopping $13 billion investment in ChatGPT creator, OpenAI.
Microsoft’s top executive, Satya Nadella, recently weighed in on the sweeping adoption of AI and said that the sector represents a major technology shift. Currently, Microsoft has started integrating new generative AI technology into its traditional products, including Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.